Harpist in the Wind

The Star-bearer (Morgon of Hed) and Raederle of An, united at last, continue their search for their true identities in this final volume of McKillip's 'Riddle-Master' trilogy. "Harpist in the Wind" won the Locus Award in 1980 and I feel 'award-winning' is the least amount of praise one can apply to this trilogy. McKillip 'dreams awake' when she spins her fantasies, and that's how it feels to read them. Love, family ties, and even magical bonds to the land play an important part in these novels, as they do in many other great fantasy epics such as 'Lord of the Rings' and Norton's Witchworld trilogy concerning the triplets Kemoc, Kyllan, and Kaththea. Vengeance, which was a prominent theme in "Heir of Sea and Fire" slows to a cold drizzle in "Harpist in the Wind" and in one case dries up completely. Revenge might indeed be a 'dish best tasted cold' but if it gets too cold, the hero could end up feeling sorry for his erstwhile enemy or even forgiving him, as does Morgon. His gradual change from innocent farmer-prince, to vengeful shape-changer, to the Star-bearer spins out the most challenging riddle of this trilogy. Who is the Star-bearer? What is his true purpose? "Stars, children with faces of stone, the fiery, broken shards of a bowl he had smashed in Astrin's hut, dead cities, a dark-haired shape-changer, a harpist, all resolved under his probing into answerless riddles"--at least in the beginning of "Harpist in the Wind." As in all of McKillip's fantasies, there are scenes of high astonishment and magic in 'Harpist,' most especially in Morgon's discovery of wizards other than the evil Ghisteslwchlohm who are still alive, most prominently Yrth, the creator of Morgon's three-starred harp. Or is this another of the riddles the Star-bearer must solve? What is the relationship between Deth, the High One's harpist who betrayed Morgon to Ghisteslwchlohm, and Yrth, a great wizard who had once been called the Harpist of the magical city of Lungold? In the end, all riddles are answered and the Star-bearer comes into his heritage, although his friends and loved ones (and the reader) seem to realize who he is long before he does. Such is usually the case with heroes.

Patricia McKillip wraps up her Riddlemaster trilogy in a manner that other current fantasy authors have yet to match. If the second book of a series tends to be the weakest, the last is the most likely to disappoint. Here, the trilogy gets even more amazing.In the aftermath of Heir of Sea and Fire, Raederle and Morgan have been reunited in Anuin, where the dead are still roaming around, Deth has vanished, and Raederle is afraid to marry Morgan because of her fears of her own strange ancestry. Morgan brings a shipful of wraiths to his home of Hed, and confronts the family who sees that he is no longer as he once was.And the lands of An are teetering on the edge of war, with shapechangers creeping through the land and the sinister Ghisteslwchlohm somehow at the middle of it. "There are men in it who have already died, who are still fighting, with their bodies possessed by nothing human." So Morgan and Raederle must go on the ultimate mission -- a mission that will take them to the heart and history of their world, the secret of the shape-changers and what they are, and what Morgan's secret destiny is...McKillip doesn't falter for a moment in this book, the third of the series; she's never written doorstopper epics, but her books are some of the most outstanding fantasy in print. Her writing evolved even over the course of the trilogy, becoming more introspective and more spellbinding in its descriptions. She gives you only a hint of how something looks, but every sense about how it feels and how it is perceived by the characters.Morgan and Raederle have both grown from the beginnings of their initial books. Morgan is now a more tormented, multidimensional person than the guy who hid a crown under his bed and got sour milk dumped on his head. He feels the weight of An on his shoulders, and experiences equal determination and fear. Raederle has also changed, since finding out about her mixed heritage and why she has her mysterious powers. In a way, this knowledge about her past balances out with Morgan's knowledge about his future destiny. She's not the usual fantasy girlfriend whose sole purpose is to provide the hero with some romance, but a strong and independent female character who acts as a vital part of the storyline.The supporting characters are also amazing: Deth is his usual ambiguous self, where you can't be sure if he's working for or against Morgan. Rood is still delightful, but transformed into a more serious character. And we see more of Raederle's quirky father Mathom, Morgan's sister Tristan and brother Eliard, and various other faces from the past two books. This is one of the few fantasy stories where you simply can't guess what is ahead. Questions and hints laid out in the previous two books are followed up on, and pretty much no threads are left dangling. You won't guess beforehand what Morgan's destiny is or what the shapechangers were, or even how they can be dealt with. You won't know what Deth's plans are until he reveals the

The Riddlemaster triology is my favourite story ever. I can't count the number of times I have read it, immersing myself in the beauty of the language and characters, always hurting a little when I come to the end. I have actually printed out and framed the last paragraph of Book Three, because I think it is a piece of the most beautiful writing I have ever come across.

Start with the first in the trilogy, "The Riddlemaster of Hed" and soon you'll find yourself looking for this book, the third in the trilogy. It's absolutely wonderful, I could never say all that I want to about this one.

This is an excelent conclusion to a outstanding trilogy.It gives answers to previous riddles in the first two books,The Riddle Master Of Hed,and The Heir To Sea And Fire.It gives you continuous riddles and answers,such as,why is the who is really the harpist Deth?,why is the "high one" silent?etc.It starts in Anuin after Morgan doesn't kill Deth because Deth gives him a riddle.It continues delightfully on Trader's Road,in Lungold, in Earlenstar Mountain,in the Northern Wastes, and all across the realm.He learns the name of the "nameless"shapechangers, who is the "high one" ,and how to defeat the shapechangers useing the land-rules of the kings